Toner cartridge having percussion device

ABSTRACT

A toner cartridge includes a housing, a toner conveying shaft and a percussion device. The housing has a barrel portion, in which toners are contained, and a transmission portion rotatably disposed at an end of the barrel portion. The toner conveying shaft is rotatably disposed inside the barrel portion of the housing and drivenable by the transmission portion of the housing to rotate. The percussion device is configured to intermittently vibrate the barrel portion of the housing when the toner conveying shaft rotates. As such, when the percussion device intermittently vibrates the barrel portion of the housing, the toners attached on an inner wall surface of the barrel portion will be shaken down for being further discharged out of barrel portion, thereby reducing the residual amount of the toners that are contained in the barrel portion of the housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to an electronic image-formingapparatus and more particularly, to a toner cartridge used in theelectronic image-forming apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

Toner cartridge is one of the important structural devices of theelectronic image-forming apparatus, and also a technical core forachieving image developing. Though there are various toner cartridgeswith different structures commercially available to consumers, the goalof perfectly making the toner cartridge with more functions, such asreducing the residual quantity of toners, is still to be reached bymanufactures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-notedcircumstances. It is an objective of the present invention to provide atoner cartridge capable of reducing the residual quantity of tonerscontained therein.

To attain the above objective, the present invention provides a tonercartridge comprising a housing, a toner conveying shaft, and apercussion device. The housing has a barrel portion for containingtoners and a transmission portion rotatably disposed at an end of thebarrel portion. The toner conveying shaft is rotatably disposed insidethe barrel portion of the housing and drivenable by the transmissionportion of the housing to rotate. The percussion device is configured tointermittently vibrate the barrel portion of the housing when the tonerconveying shaft rotates.

Preferably, the barrel portion of the housing may have an annularflange, the toner conveying shaft may have a disc portion rotatablyreceived in the annular flange, and the percussion device may comprise anotch provided at the annular flange, and a resilient portion having aresilient arm provided at the disc portion, and a protrusion blockdisposed at a terminal end of the resilient arm and insertable into thenotch. When the resilient portion rotates relative to the barrel portionalong with the toner conveying shaft, the protrusion block of theresilient portion intermittently extends into the notch, therebyvibrating the barrel portion of the housing.

Preferably, the barrel portion of the housing may comprise an annularflange, the toner conveying shaft may comprise a shaft portion and adisc portion disposed at an end of the shaft portion and rotatablyreceived in the annular flange, and the percussion device may comprise anotch provided at the disc portion of the toner conveying shaft, and aresilient portion having a resilient arm provided at the annular flange,and a protrusion block disposed at a terminal end of the resilient aimand insertable into the notch. When the disc portion having the notchrotates relative to the barrel portion of the housing along with thetoner conveying shaft, the protrusion block of the resilient portionintermittently extends into the notch, thereby vibrating the barrelportion of the housing.

Preferably, the barrel portion of the housing may have an annularflange, the toner conveying shaft may have a disc portion rotatablyreceived in the annular flange, and the percussion device may comprise anotch provided at the annular flange, and a resilient portion having aknocking member and a resilient member disposed between the disc portionand the knocking member in a way that the knocking member partially andintermittently extends into the notch when the resilient portion rotatesrelative to the barrel portion along with the toner conveying shaft,thereby vibrating the barrel portion of the housing.

With the above-mentioned technical features, when the percussion deviceintermittently vibrates the barrel portion of the housing, the tonersattached on an inner wall surface of the barrel portion will be shakendown for being further discharged out of barrel portion, therebyachieving the effect of reducing the residual quantity of the tonersthat are contained in the barrel portion of the housing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from thedetailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawingswhich are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitativeof the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toner cartridge according to a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the toner cartridge according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partially sectional view of the toner cartridge according tothe first embodiment of the present invention, showing that a protrusionblock is departed from a notch;

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3, but showing that the protrusion blockextends into the notch;

FIG. 5 is a partially exploded view of a toner cartridge according to asecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a partially sectional view of the toner cartridge according tothe second embodiment of the present invention, showing that aprotrusion block is departed from a notch;

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 6, but showing that the protrusion blockextends into the notch;

FIG. 8 is a partially exploded view of a toner cartridge according to athird embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a partially sectional view of the toner cartridge according tothe third embodiment of the present invention, showing that a knockingmember is departed from a notch; and

FIG. 10 is similar to FIG. 9, but showing that the knocking memberextends into the notch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a toner cartridge 10 provided in accordancewith a first embodiment of the present invention comprises a housing 20,a toner conveying shaft 30, and a percussion device 40.

The housing 20 is composed of a barrel portion 21 and a transmissionportion 25. The inside of the barrel portion 21 is used to accommodatetoners. The barrel portion 21 includes a hollow tube body 22 and an endcap 23. The end cap 23 is fixedly disposed to an end of the tube body 22and provided at an inner lateral surface thereof with an annular flange24. The transmission portion 25 is rotatably disposed at the other endof the tube body 22. In other feasible embodiments, the end cap 23 andthe tube body 22 may be integrally formed as a unity member.

The toner conveying shaft 30 is rotatably disposed inside the barrelportion 21 of the housing 20. The toner conveying shaft 30 includes ashaft portion 31 having an end connected with the transmission portion25 of the housing 20, such that the toner conveying shaft 30 isdrivenable by the transmission portion 25 of the housing 20 to rotate inthe inside of the barrel portion 21 of the housing 20. The tonerconveying shaft 30 further includes a scoop portion 32 disposed adjacentto an end of the shaft portion 31 for conveying toners from the barrelportion 21 to the transmission portion 25, and a disc portion 33disposed at the other end of the shaft portion 31 and rotatably receivedin the annular flange 24 of the end cap 23 of the housing 20. The discportion 33 of the toner conveying shaft 30 includes an arc rim 34 and aplurality of spokes 35 connected between the arc rim 34 and the shaftportion 31 of the toner conveying shaft 30. Moreover, the tonerconveying shaft 30 further includes a plurality of stirring rods 36 on alateral side of the shaft portion 31, and a conveying blade 37 on anopposite lateral side of the shaft portion 31. When the toner conveyingshaft 30 rotates, the stirring rods 36 stir the toners contained inbarrel portion 21, and the conveying blade 37 feeds the toners to thescoop portion 32.

The percussion device 40 includes a notch 41 and a resilient portion 42.In this embodiment, the notch 41 is provided at the annular flange 24 ofbarrel portion 21 of the housing 20. The resilient portion 42 includes aresilient arm 43 provided at the arc rim 34 of the disc portion 33 ofthe toner conveying shaft 30, and a protrusion block 44 disposed at aterminal end of the resilient arm 43, such that the resilient portion 42will rotate along with the toner conveying shaft 30 relative to thebarrel portion 21 of the housing 20. In this embodiment, an outerperiphery of the resilient arm 43 and an outer periphery of the arm rim34 are located on an imaginary circumference and combinedly formed as analmost complete circular circumference, and the protrusion block 44protrudes radially outwardly from the circumference.

With the above-mentioned structural features, when the toner cartridge10 is installed in an electronic image-forming apparatus, such as copymachine or printer, the transmission portion 25 of the housing will bedriven by a driving member (not shown) of the electronic image-formingapparatus to rotate, such that the toner conveying shaft 30 will bedriven by the transmission portion 25 of the housing 20 to rotaterelative to the barrel portion 21 of the housing 20. In the rotationalperiod of the toner conveying shaft 30, the resilient portion 42 willrotate along with the disc portion 33 of the toner conveying shaft 30 ina way that the resilient arm 43 is resiliently compressed by an innerwall surface of the annular flange 24 to store a resilient reboundforce, as shown in FIG. 3, while the protrusion block 44 is not aimed atthe notch 41. As soon as the protrusion block 44 moves to a positioncorresponding to the notch 41, the protrusion block 44 will extend intothe notch 41 due to the resilient rebound force of the resilient arm 43,as shown in FIG. 4, and meantime the resilient arm 43 outwardly knockson the annular flange 24 to vibrate the barrel portion 21 of the housing20. When the toner conveying shaft 30 continuously rotates, the barrelportion 21 of the housing 20 will be intermittently vibrated by thepercussion device 40. As such, the toners attached on an inner wallsurface of the barrel portion 21 will be shaken down due to theintermittent vibration and then discharged out of the housing 10,thereby effectively reducing the residual quantity of the toners thatare contained in the barrel portion 21 of the housing 20. In anotheraspect, the mechanism that the protrusion block 44 is insertable intothe notch 41 can provide a positioning effect. For example, in theprocess of assembling the toner cartridge 10, by means of inserting theprotrusion block 44 into the notch 41, the toner conveying shaft 30 canbe set at a desired orientation, thereby enabling the toner conveyingshaft 30 to be associated with the transmission portion 25 at thedesired orientation, facilitating the assembly task of the tonercartridge 10. In this embodiment, the percussion device 40 includes twonotches 41. However, the number of the notches 41 is not limited to thedisclosure of this embodiment. In other embodiment, the percussiondevice 40 may include one or more notches 41 in accordance with actualneed.

FIG. 5 shows a toner cartridge in accordance with a second embodiment ofthe present invention, which has a structure basically same as that ofthe toner cartridge 10 of the first embodiment but with the differenceslying in that the end cap 51 has an arch-shaped annular flange 52provided with the resilient portion 42, and the disc portion 62 of thetoner conveying shaft 60 has a circular rim 63 provided with the notch43, and a plurality of spokes 64 connected between the circular rim 63and the shaft portion 61 of the toner conveying shaft 60. Specifically,in this embodiment, the notch 41 and the resilient portion 42 of thepercussion device 40 are provided at different locations from the firstembodiment in a way that the notch 41 is provided at the circular rim 63of the disc portion 62 of the toner conveying shaft 60, and theresilient arm 43 of the resilient portion 42 is disposed at an end ofthe annular flange 52 of the end cap 51 and the protrusion block 44 ofthe resilient portion 42 is disposed at a terminal end of the resilientarm 43. As a result, when the toner conveying shaft 60 rotates, the discportion 62 having the notch 41 will rotate along with the tonerconveying shaft 60. The protrusion block 44 will be pushed outwardly bythe outer periphery surface of the circular rim 63 to enable theresilient arm 43 to store a resilient rebound force, as shown in FIG. 6,when the notch 41 and the protrusion block 44 are not aligned with eachother. As soon as the notch 41 of the disc portion 62 moves to aposition corresponding to the protrusion block 44, the protrusion block44 will extend into the notch 41 due to the resilient rebound force ofthe resilient arm 43, as shown in FIG. 7, and in the meantime theresilient arm 43 inwardly knocks on the circular rim 63 to vibrate thetoner conveying shaft 60 and the barrel portion 21 of the housing 20.With continuous rotation of the toner conveying shaft 30, the toilersattached on the inner wall surface of the barrel portion 21 will beshaken down due to the intermittent vibration and then discharged out ofthe housing 10, thereby achieving the effect of reducing the residualquantity of the toners.

FIG. 8 shows a toner cartridge in accordance with a third embodiment ofthe present invention, which has a housing 20 exactly identical to thehousing 20 disclosed by the first embodiment, and a toner conveyingshaft 70 and a percussion device 80 different from those disclosed bythe first embodiment. Specifically a disc portion 72 of the tonerconveying shaft 70 is provided with a radially extending rod 73 having abottom end connected with a shaft portion 71 of the toner conveyingshaft 70. The percussion device 80 has a notch 81 provided at theannular flange 24, and a resilient portion 82 having a knocking member83 and a resilient member 84. The knocking member 83 is moveably sleevedonto a top end of the radially extending rod 73, and the resilientmember 84 is sleeved onto the radially extending rod 73 with its twoends abutting against the shaft portion 71 of the toner conveying shaft70 and the knocking member 83, respectively. As a result, when the tonerconveying shaft 70 rotates, the resilient portion 82 will rotate alongwith the toner conveying shaft 70. When the notch 81 and the knockingmember 83 are not aligned with each other., the knocking member 83 ispressed by the inner wall surface of the annular flange 24, such thatthe knocking member 83 further compresses the resilient member 84 toenable the resilient member 84 to store a resilient rebound force, asshown in FIG. 9. As soon as the knocking member 83 moves to a positioncorresponding to the notch 81, the knocking member 83 will be forced bythe rebound force of the resilient member 84 to partially extend intothe notch 81, as shown in FIG. 10, and in the meantime a part of theknocking member 83 outwardly knocks on the annular flange 24 to vibratethe barrel portion 21 of the housing 20. With continuous rotation of thetoner conveying shaft 70, the toners attached on the inner wall surfaceof the barrel portion 21 will be shaken down due to the intermittentvibration and then discharged out of the housing 10, thereby achievingthe effect of reducing the residual quantity of the toners.

Based on the technical features of the present invention, variousmodifications to the structure of the toner cartridge of the presentinvention may be made. For example, the structure of the percussiondevice is not limited to the disclosed embodiments of the presentinvention. Any percussion device that may rotate along with the tonerconveying shaft to intermittently vibrate the housing may be sued.Further, the barrel portion 21 of the housing 20 may provide no such anannular flange 24, but a recessed groove, which is capable of receivingthe disc portion 33 and provided at an inner wall surface thereof withthe notch 41 or 81, instead. Furthermore, the disc portion 33 or 62 maynot be constructed with the arc rim 34 or the circular rim 63 with thespokes 35 or 64, but being configured having a solid disc form, as longas the disc portion can be associated with the annular flange 24.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same maybe varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intendedto be included within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A toner cartridge, comprising: a housing having abarrel portion and a transmission portion rotatably disposed at an endof the barrel portion; a toner conveying shaft rotatably disposed insidethe barrel portion of the housing and driven by the transmission portionof the housing to rotate; a percussion device configured tointermittently vibrate the barrel portion of the housing when the tonerconveying shaft rotates; wherein the percussion device comprises a notchprovided at the barrel portion of the housing, and a resilient portionprovided at the toner conveying shaft; the resilient portion of thepercussion device rotates relative to the barrel portion of the housingalong with the toner conveying shaft in a way that a terminal end of theresilient portion intermittently extends into the notch, therebyvibrating the barrel portion of the housing; wherein the barrel portionof the housing comprises an annular flange extended along an axialdirection of the barrel portion of the housing in a way that the notchpenetrates through the annular flange along a radial direction of thebarrel portion of the housing.
 2. The toner cartridge as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the toner conveying shaft comprises a shaft portion anda disc portion disposed at an end of the shaft portion and rotatablyreceived in the annular flange.
 3. The toner cartridge as claimed inclaim 2, wherein the resilient portion of the percussion devicecomprises a resilient arm provided at the disc portion of the tonerconveying shaft, and a protrusion block disposed at a terminal end ofthe resilient arm and insertable into the notch.
 4. The toner cartridgeas claimed in claim 2, wherein the resilient portion of the percussiondevice comprises a resilient member and a knocking member; the resilientmember is disposed between the disc portion of the toner conveying shaftand the knocking member in a way that the knocking member is partiallyinsertable into the notch.
 5. The toner cartridge as claimed in claim 4,wherein the disc portion of the toner conveying shaft is provided with aradially extending rod, onto which the resilient member is sleeved. 6.The toner cartridge as claimed in claim 2, wherein the disc portion ofthe toner conveying shaft comprises an arc rim and a plurality of spokesconnected between the arc rim and the shaft portion of the tonerconveying shaft.
 7. The toner cartridge as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe barrel portion of the housing comprises a tube body and an end capdisposed to an end of the tube body; the annular flange is provided atthe end cap.
 8. A toner cartridge, comprising: a housing having a barrelportion and a transmission portion rotatably disposed at an end of thebarrel portion; a toner conveying shaft rotatably disposed inside thebarrel portion of the housing and driven by the transmission portion ofthe housing to rotate; a percussion device configured to intermittentlyvibrate the barrel portion of the housing when the toner conveying shaftrotates; wherein the barrel portion of the housing comprises an annularflange extending along an axial direction of the barrel portion of thehousing; the toner conveying shaft comprises a shaft portion and a discportion disposed at an end of the shaft portion and rotatably receivedin the annular flange; the percussion device comprises a notch recessedradially from a periphery of the disc portion of the toner conveyingshaft, and a resilient portion provided at the annular flange; when thetoner conveying shaft rotates relative to the barrel portion of thehousing, a terminal end of the resilient portion intermittently extendsinto the notch, thereby vibrating the barrel portion of the housing. 9.The toner cartridge as claimed in claim 8, wherein the resilient portionof the percussion device comprises a resilient arm provided at theannular flange, and a protrusion block disposed at a terminal end of theresilient aim and insertable into the notch.
 10. The toner cartridge asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the disc portion of the toner conveyingshaft comprises a circular rim and a plurality of spokes connectedbetween the circular rim and the shaft portion of the toner conveyingshaft.
 11. The toner cartridge as claimed in claim 8, wherein the barrelportion of the housing comprises a tube body and an end cap disposed toan end of the tube body; the annular flange is provided at the end cap.